Vancouver Audio Festival 2017: Opening Day

Waking up early to already warm temperatures, and sunlight slanting into my bedroom I couldn’t help but wonder if this rare sunny day in Vancouver would mean trouble.

It’s slated to be the hottest day of the year here – not a cloud in the deep azure sky – which you would think could translate into people being more interested in the beach or park that in the Vancouver Audio Festival that HiFi Centre is hosting this weekend. But audiophiles are a fickle lot, and if there’s gear to be heard in quiet, air-conditioned rooms than they will be on hand.

Headphones were getting people in the door, two-channel was keeping them there.

So it was Saturday morning, and afternoon as local West Coast music lovers, and gear heads jostled for the sweet spot in the several rooms that Igor Kivritsky and the staff at HiFi Centre had put together for their pleasure. The Vancouver Audio Festival was Kivritsky’s good-will gesture for Vancouver-area audiophiles who would have missed out on the annual show that the Chester Group cancelled for this weekend, and they responded in kind with a steady stream of people coming through the doors.

Sonus Faber with McIntosh.

AudioQuest set-up in the headphone area.

One of the coolest things I noticed was how many young people were checking out the headphone-centric section set up for the festival. They would spend a good amount of time checking out all the cans, and amps, and then start to wander into the two-channel rooms. A promising sign of interest in high fidelity if there ever was.

Making a Statement with Naim and Focal.

Sonus Faber with NAD.

With the curated gear in the festival ranging from a couple hundred dollars (AudioQuest DragonFly DAC) to a few hundred thousand dollars (Naim Statement Amplifier), there’s something for everybody on site, and the pricing spread reminded me that in this hobby you can be a teenager with a part-time job or wealthy banker: there’s a strata of high fidelity for everyone who loves music.

Check back with Part-Time Audiophile for continued coverage from Vancouver throughout the weekend.